Reflectively (in the sea)
by RayneSummer
Summary: A few months after Yemen, Elena takes her boys on a beach vacation. She's learning to trust Nate again, he's realising he's not the only protective one, and Sully reflects on his little family. (AKA post-u3 aggressively domestic adventure family stuff)


**Universe:** Uncharted

 **Characters/Themes:** Nate,Elena,Sully; family. That's it. And aggressively domestic fluffy stuff.

 _Note: I was in the middle (literally) of playing Chateau level last night in u3 and I just had this very sudden and important urge to write aggressively domestic fic. So this happened._

* * *

Elena sighed as she settled back on her towel. The beach was mostly quiet, which was nice - although possibly this was because Nate was currently in the sea instead. She closed her eyes against the sun's glare and relaxed, but a chuckle from beside her made Elena sit up again, opening her eyes to give Sully a mildly irritated look.

"Nate's calling you," he advised before she could say anything. She closed her eyes again for a second, as if praying for peace - earning another laugh from Sully, which she willfully ignored - and turned with a determined expression towards her way-too-enthusiastic husband, who was currently sprinting up the beach towards her.

"Hey," he greeted breathlessly, coming to a stop just before putting his wet and sandy feet all over their towels spread out on the ground. "You should really come in with me, it's not that cold."

She sighed again but appreciatively scanned her dripped wet husband with only his swimming shorts on. Hm, perhaps there were reasons to go freeze her ass off in the sea even though it was the middle of summer.

Nate ran a hand through his hair, unintentionally spiking it up, then blinked at her gaze and gave her a hopeful look. It wasn't really something Elena could really resist, despite months of attempts to do so. She threw up her hands dramatically and got to her feet.

"Fine! But only for five minutes; I don't want to get hypothermia or some shit." She added the last bit in a quiet grumble, but Nate still heard.

He patted her arm kindly. "You won't," he reassured her, but could barely hide his smile at her overreacting. She just rolled her eyes.

"Please leave before I have to because of your very public displays of affection," Sully interrupted loudly, ruining the moment, but not able to hide his own grin either. Elena stuck her tongue out at him - ever the mature one, of course - before following an also grinning Nate down to the sea. Her boys were ridiculous.

True to her expectations, the water was persistently cold despite the midday sun burning down on the sand today. She dipped her toes in and made a face. Nate laughed and took her hand, leading her into the biting chill.

She repeatedly squealed and tried to pull away, but Nate would just stop for a moment and wait for her to get use to the temperature before pressing on. He didn't stop or let go of her hand until they were both eventually chest-deep in the water.

Elena decided, before Nate could start talking or anything, that revenge was due. She dropped his hand and before he could get over the surprise, used her free hands to shove a small wave of water in his face.

Nate blinked and spat out some water, making a face at the salt. Then his expression turned thoughtful. Elena decided she'd better run.

Unfortunately, she didn't manage to get far before a splash of water soaked her hair from behind. She gasped at the chill seeping down her back and turned with narrowed eyes to face her innocently grinning husband.

"Come here, you!" She yelled, and jumped on him, pushing them both underwater, and tackled him until they had to surface, gasping for breath.

Nate moved in before Elena had time to recover and pressed his lips against hers, leaving her breathless in a completely different way. They only broke off at a distant yell from the shore. "There are children present, y'know!"

He let go of Elena just to very deliberately put his middle finger in the air towards the direction of the beach, and Sully. Well, for a couple of seconds anyway, before Elena slapped his hand down with a mock scowl, ignoring the faint laughter from the sands.

Nate just grinned and gave her another quick kiss on the cheek before abruptly diving underneath the surface and disappearing from sight. Elena scanned the sea around her, waiting for him to come up for air so she could catch him out with throwing some more water in his face.

She frowned when he didn't appear and made a face, glancing expectantly at the shore. Of course, leaving her secretly would save him from any more face splashing sessions.

Muttering about silly husbands who don't do fun unless it involves running for your life, she trudged slowly through the water to get back on dry sand. Or terra firma, as Nate would say. Elena smirked to herself.

Sully squinted at her as she approached, wringing out her damp her. "You drown your husband already?"

She rolled her eyes. "I would, but I love him," she said in a long-suffering voice. "Nah, he's - " Elena blinked at the towels on the sand, which sat no other wayward treasure hunter. "...Not here."

The elder man raised an eyebrow. "No..." he agreed cautiously. He smiled kindly at her wary expression. "I wouldn't worry. The kid can get into trouble in seconds, but he also gets out of it," he reassured her.

Elena bit her lip, thinking. She didn't want to admit the overprotective fear already gnawing at her even though Nate had only been out of sight for two minuets, but Sully could see her worry easily and knowingly.

To be fair, it was hard not to immediately be concerned for someone who was known to crash trains, get shot, blow up planes and walk desert or frozen wastelands for hours when he was left alone for a minute.

So Elena found herself marching almost instinctively back down to the sea in determination, Sully following behind at her silent insistence.

"Y'know, Nate can take care of himself," he offered as they stood at the waterline. Elena didn't even bother with a reply; she just gave him a look. Sully shrugged, although looking sheepish because that wasn't a completely true statement anyway. Without a word, she waded a little into the sea and took a deep breath. There was one thing guaranteed to receive an answer.

"NATE!" She yelled across the sea. (Not really a scream because she didn't do screaming and despite 'being a girl' she didn't really have a high voice.)

Sully jumped, the drone of chatter on the beach stopped, and to the right and forward of where Elena stood, Nate predictably surfaced, coughing a bit of the hasty reaction, and frantically looked around, calming only when he spotted Elena and Sully.

She crossed her arms as Nate approached her and settled her instant relieved expression into a sort-of scowl. "Jesus, 'Lena, what was that scare for?!" He protested, coming to a stop in front of her, panting a bit. She unfolded her arms, then changed her mind and folded them again, deciding it was more intimidating and, well, she could hug him a lot later.

"Nathan Drake, this is your only warning," she began sternly, "If you are out of my sight for more than five minutes while we are on this vacation, I _will_ knock you out and tie you to the bed."

He considered that, glancing at Sully behind her who looked only mildly surprised at this threat, then back at Elena. "Will you be on the bed with me?"

She thought for a minute. "No."

"Ah. In that case, alright, I'll be on your leash." He grinned at her and she couldn't help smiling back and uncrossed her arms, putting them to better use around her appreciatively wet husband.

"Seriously though, don't scare me like that," she murmured in his ear. He nodded and whispered back, "Sorry, love." She pulled back to give him an incredulous look at the tender nickname, and there was a loud sigh from behind them.

They parted at the intrusion and looked at Sully expectedly. "Can I get back to allowing to be bored for once?" He asked dryly, giving them both a pointed look. Nate grinned.

"Go ahead and have your afternoon nap, old man," he replied as they began following Sully back up the beach again, arm in arm.

Sully tried to fondly swat at the back of the kid's head, but Nate just laughed and dodged easily out the way, earning a mock glare from Sully, who couldn't hide his smirk at his kid's habits.

Elena giggled at their (adorable) antics and lightly tugged Nate's arm, nodding towards the ice cream hut when he looked at her, and looking back at him hopefully. He shook his head with a smile. "C'mon, then." He chuckled at her little jump of pleasure and led the way over to the hut, glancing back to salute at Sully as they walked in the opposite direction. "See you in a bit."

Sully nodded and waved back with another smirk. "Have fun, kids!" He called back. Elena turned around and stuck her tongue out. Ever mature.

Settling back on his towel, he watched the two stroll off, holding hands, laughing at something (him, probably). He shook his head and chuckled to himself. They're all still fixing each other, yes. The last year had been hard on all of them, and it will take a while to heal. But for the moment, the little family are back together, and they don't need it any other way for the world.


End file.
